Albany Assistance - accident management on behalf of Admiral
Discussion
Hi All,
Recently an old lady reversed her car into my stationary vehicle at a car park. She admitted liability.
I called Admiral (my insurer) who referred me onto Albany Assistance. Albany Assistance agreed to get the car repaired and give me a hire car (though I do not need the hire car).
Albany assistance basically finance the repair and hire car and then recover the costs later from the third party (aproximately 49 weeks I think). If the the third party does not agree to the hire costs, then I am liable for them, so I dont want to risk getting the hire car.
So far the local garage (part of Albany's recommended garages) have seen the car and said it needs a new front bumper. They will contact Albany to 'approve' the repair.
Should I go ahead with the repair, but not accept the hire car? Are their any implications for using Albany Assistance? Do I have any other options at this stage?
In hindsight, I should have contacted old lady's insurers (Aviva) to get them to deal with the claim. I never knew that Admiral palm of all non-fault claims to Albany.
Recently an old lady reversed her car into my stationary vehicle at a car park. She admitted liability.
I called Admiral (my insurer) who referred me onto Albany Assistance. Albany Assistance agreed to get the car repaired and give me a hire car (though I do not need the hire car).
Albany assistance basically finance the repair and hire car and then recover the costs later from the third party (aproximately 49 weeks I think). If the the third party does not agree to the hire costs, then I am liable for them, so I dont want to risk getting the hire car.
So far the local garage (part of Albany's recommended garages) have seen the car and said it needs a new front bumper. They will contact Albany to 'approve' the repair.
Should I go ahead with the repair, but not accept the hire car? Are their any implications for using Albany Assistance? Do I have any other options at this stage?
In hindsight, I should have contacted old lady's insurers (Aviva) to get them to deal with the claim. I never knew that Admiral palm of all non-fault claims to Albany.
Have Albany themselves actually done anything yet (other than book an estimation)? If not, I'd ring the 3rd-party insurer, find out the current status of the claim, and provide them with details of the estimation you've got. I'd then phone Admiral and tell them that you're no longer dealing with Albany.
Here's my experience, in case it helps (though I weaseled out of the 'accident management' offer before they had a chance to rack up a bill on my behalf).
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Here's my experience, in case it helps (though I weaseled out of the 'accident management' offer before they had a chance to rack up a bill on my behalf).
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Albany do nothing more than jack up the cost of the claim. Using them just drives up the cost of insurance.
From Admiral's point of view that's great, becuase it's driving up their competitors costs, not Admiral's.
Ring Aviva and offer to deal direct. If their driver admits liability Aviva will bend over backwards to help you. You will get to choose where your car is repaired AND at renewal time you can honestly say that you have not made a claim from your policy. Something that you can't do if you go through your own insurer.
From Admiral's point of view that's great, becuase it's driving up their competitors costs, not Admiral's.
Ring Aviva and offer to deal direct. If their driver admits liability Aviva will bend over backwards to help you. You will get to choose where your car is repaired AND at renewal time you can honestly say that you have not made a claim from your policy. Something that you can't do if you go through your own insurer.
I was hit by someone a few years ago, iirc he was insured with Aviva and as above, yes, they did go out of their way to put me right. My insurers never got involved at all. Definitely seems to be the win-win way to go, you get premium service and it costs the insurer less in the long run.
The 3rd party insurer basically said to me "what do you need and what do you want us to do, you call the shots because ultimately it will still cost us less than going via an AM company".
The 3rd party insurer basically said to me "what do you need and what do you want us to do, you call the shots because ultimately it will still cost us less than going via an AM company".
Thanks Guys. The only thing I have done so far is:
1) ticked the online boxes confirming I agree with their finance agreement
2) taken the car to the bodyshop on Friday 29th May for the technician to take some photos of the bumper to send to Albany to approve repair.
Other than that I have done nothing else, and have not physically signed any hard copies of documents.
I have not hear back from either about whether they will repair the car.
1) ticked the online boxes confirming I agree with their finance agreement
2) taken the car to the bodyshop on Friday 29th May for the technician to take some photos of the bumper to send to Albany to approve repair.
Other than that I have done nothing else, and have not physically signed any hard copies of documents.
I have not hear back from either about whether they will repair the car.
Just ring Albnay and tell them you don't want the car. They can't force you to have it and the fact that you explicitly state that you have "no need of a hire car" means the first and most basic legal test for a credit hire car fails.
You have a contract with Admiral that they will repair your car, so they can offload it to Albany to manage repairs only, or you can go to Aviva. The repair is separate to the hire car.
You have a contract with Admiral that they will repair your car, so they can offload it to Albany to manage repairs only, or you can go to Aviva. The repair is separate to the hire car.
Albany were a nightmare when my wife was driven into.
Constantly pushing for us to take unnecessary car hire whilst refusing to confirm the daily charge rate and then kindly passed us onto an ambulance chaser who we had to forcefully tell on several occasions that my wife suffered no injuries.
Bunch of shyster's IMO
Constantly pushing for us to take unnecessary car hire whilst refusing to confirm the daily charge rate and then kindly passed us onto an ambulance chaser who we had to forcefully tell on several occasions that my wife suffered no injuries.
Bunch of shyster's IMO
You should still be within the cooling off period regarding the credit agreement.
I was in a similar position, told Albany I didn't want their 'assistance' and called the other party's insurance.
I explained I wanted a nice quick resolution, decent hire car and no silly offers (car was a write-off) or I would use Albany - I had everything sorted within 2 hours of making the call and no chance of any issues further down the line.
Accident Management companies only benefit themselves and the referring insurance company - it is NOT in the claimant's interest to use them.
I was in a similar position, told Albany I didn't want their 'assistance' and called the other party's insurance.
I explained I wanted a nice quick resolution, decent hire car and no silly offers (car was a write-off) or I would use Albany - I had everything sorted within 2 hours of making the call and no chance of any issues further down the line.
Accident Management companies only benefit themselves and the referring insurance company - it is NOT in the claimant's interest to use them.
Ok quick update...
Spoke to Aviva who said claim has been lodged and is disputed by old lady. They are waiting for Admiral to contact them to discuss case. Aviva advised I chase up with Admiral as there is nothing they can do at the moment.
Called Admiral and asked them to cancel Albany contract which they will do today for me. This means I will be claiming from my own policy and will have to pay a £600 excess (recoverable separately from Admiral Law) and will temporarily lose my NCB (re-instated once liability is sorted in my favour).
Admiral will contact Aviva next week to get the ball rolling.
I will now not have to deal with Albany which is a good thing.
Spoke to Aviva who said claim has been lodged and is disputed by old lady. They are waiting for Admiral to contact them to discuss case. Aviva advised I chase up with Admiral as there is nothing they can do at the moment.
Called Admiral and asked them to cancel Albany contract which they will do today for me. This means I will be claiming from my own policy and will have to pay a £600 excess (recoverable separately from Admiral Law) and will temporarily lose my NCB (re-instated once liability is sorted in my favour).
Admiral will contact Aviva next week to get the ball rolling.
I will now not have to deal with Albany which is a good thing.
We had a very similar situation with Albany through our insurer Diamond from a non-fault claim. We refused Albany's "assistance" and the whole matter was dealt with through our insurer who claimed off the third party. We didn't even speak to the other party's insurer.
I mention this because you talk about Admiral Law getting your no-claims back. In our experience the incident was completely non-fault, so the excess was not applicable - we didn't pay anything up front.
Diamond Law are completely separate to Diamond insurance. I expect Admiral are the same. Diamond Law were solely interested in trying to claim personal injury for us, they were very keen to mislead us into thinking that a claim through Diamond Law was necessary to get our no claims back....
Good luck!
I mention this because you talk about Admiral Law getting your no-claims back. In our experience the incident was completely non-fault, so the excess was not applicable - we didn't pay anything up front.
Diamond Law are completely separate to Diamond insurance. I expect Admiral are the same. Diamond Law were solely interested in trying to claim personal injury for us, they were very keen to mislead us into thinking that a claim through Diamond Law was necessary to get our no claims back....
Good luck!
timmymagic73 said:
We had a very similar situation with Albany through our insurer Diamond from a non-fault claim. We refused Albany's "assistance" and the whole matter was dealt with through our insurer who claimed off the third party. We didn't even speak to the other party's insurer.
I mention this because you talk about Admiral Law getting your no-claims back. In our experience the incident was completely non-fault, so the excess was not applicable - we didn't pay anything up front.
Diamond Law are completely separate to Diamond insurance. I expect Admiral are the same. Diamond Law were solely interested in trying to claim personal injury for us, they were very keen to mislead us into thinking that a claim through Diamond Law was necessary to get our no claims back....
Good luck!
1. admiral and Diamond are brands of the same parent company, just like Bell and elephant and Gladiator are too. I mention this because you talk about Admiral Law getting your no-claims back. In our experience the incident was completely non-fault, so the excess was not applicable - we didn't pay anything up front.
Diamond Law are completely separate to Diamond insurance. I expect Admiral are the same. Diamond Law were solely interested in trying to claim personal injury for us, they were very keen to mislead us into thinking that a claim through Diamond Law was necessary to get our no claims back....
Good luck!
2. The Law firms are owned by the parent company too under the Alternative Business Structure rules brought in a few years ago
3. The law firm will recover all your uninsured losses eg, injury, excess, loss of earnings
4. Your crash was a non disputed claim, whereas the old lady is disputing liability so the excess will apply until the other side admits liability. That's standard across the industry.
While they may be part of the same company, we were told by Diamond that the Law and Insurance sides of Diamond were completely separate - in administrative terms at least.
During the course of our non-fault dealings with Diamond, I believe that the Law side weren't actually required to re-claim any no-claims payment, despite us being given the distinct impression that this is something they would need do for us...
But yes, understood - I missed that this claim was being disputed, sorry OP!
During the course of our non-fault dealings with Diamond, I believe that the Law side weren't actually required to re-claim any no-claims payment, despite us being given the distinct impression that this is something they would need do for us...
But yes, understood - I missed that this claim was being disputed, sorry OP!
timmymagic73 said:
While they may be part of the same company, we were told by Diamond that the Law and Insurance sides of Diamond were completely separate - in administrative terms at least.
During the course of our non-fault dealings with Diamond, I believe that the Law side weren't actually required to re-claim any no-claims payment, despite us being given the distinct impression that this is something they would need do for us...
But yes, understood - I missed that this claim was being disputed, sorry OP!
what is "no claims payment"?During the course of our non-fault dealings with Diamond, I believe that the Law side weren't actually required to re-claim any no-claims payment, despite us being given the distinct impression that this is something they would need do for us...
But yes, understood - I missed that this claim was being disputed, sorry OP!
Sorry, yes, I meant to say recover the payment of our excess. At the point of Diamond Insurance recommending that we speak to Diamond Law, the claim had only just been reported and the non-fault had not been confirmed.
Either way this is not relevant to the OP as it appears that the third party is now disputing the claim against her.
Either way this is not relevant to the OP as it appears that the third party is now disputing the claim against her.
JimClark49 said:
Ok quick update...
Spoke to Aviva who said claim has been lodged and is disputed by old lady. They are waiting for Admiral to contact them to discuss case. Aviva advised I chase up with Admiral as there is nothing they can do at the moment.
Called Admiral and asked them to cancel Albany contract which they will do today for me. This means I will be claiming from my own policy and will have to pay a £600 excess (recoverable separately from Admiral Law) and will temporarily lose my NCB (re-instated once liability is sorted in my favour).
Admiral will contact Aviva next week to get the ball rolling.
I will now not have to deal with Albany which is a good thing.
Ah yes, apologies, I should have said that my case only worked that way because the 3rd party immediately admitted full liability (he didn't have much option, he ran a red light straight into the side of me whilst he was being followed by an off-duty police inspector, who promptly stuck him on at the side of the road!).Spoke to Aviva who said claim has been lodged and is disputed by old lady. They are waiting for Admiral to contact them to discuss case. Aviva advised I chase up with Admiral as there is nothing they can do at the moment.
Called Admiral and asked them to cancel Albany contract which they will do today for me. This means I will be claiming from my own policy and will have to pay a £600 excess (recoverable separately from Admiral Law) and will temporarily lose my NCB (re-instated once liability is sorted in my favour).
Admiral will contact Aviva next week to get the ball rolling.
I will now not have to deal with Albany which is a good thing.
Zulu 10 said:
A couple of years ago my stationary Land Rover was struck by a manoeuvring lorry – as it was not my fault my insurer (Admiral) referred the matter to their claims management company Albany Assistance.
Albany wanted to get me a hire car, but I said “No; the fact that I have a multi-car policy is a bit of a clue to the fact that fortunately I have other cars which I can use whilst the Disco is off the road.”
At this point Albany became downright rude and threatened that if I didn’t accept a hire car then they wouldn’t act on my behalf in reclaiming my uninsured loss.
I explained that I react badly to coercion and am perfectly able to reclaim my losses by myself – which I did.
When I questioned my insurance company about Albany’s ‘no hire car, no help’ policy, I got a variety of responses, one agreeing with Albany’s statement, and the remainder dodging the issue entirely.
A little bit of digging at Companies House revealed that some of the directors of Albany Assistance are also directors of guess what; yes, you’ve got it, a hire car company.
Wow well done you googled Albany, who are a Credit Hire company and found out that they are a credit hire company. In other news, bears are Catholic and the Pope sAlbany wanted to get me a hire car, but I said “No; the fact that I have a multi-car policy is a bit of a clue to the fact that fortunately I have other cars which I can use whilst the Disco is off the road.”
At this point Albany became downright rude and threatened that if I didn’t accept a hire car then they wouldn’t act on my behalf in reclaiming my uninsured loss.
I explained that I react badly to coercion and am perfectly able to reclaim my losses by myself – which I did.
When I questioned my insurance company about Albany’s ‘no hire car, no help’ policy, I got a variety of responses, one agreeing with Albany’s statement, and the remainder dodging the issue entirely.
A little bit of digging at Companies House revealed that some of the directors of Albany Assistance are also directors of guess what; yes, you’ve got it, a hire car company.
ts in the woods. Their job isn't to recover your uninsured losses either, but don't worry about that minor detail.
Loon ain't wrong, how do you think said AMC generates revenue?
They hire cars and employ solicitors...
I've used AMCs twice in the past and it certainly helps when the third party insurers are dawdling that you can ring them up and explain that every day they're wasting it's costing them over £200 in hire vehicle costs. Both times they authorised repairs the same day and managed to get the repair done much quicker than we were suggested it would take!
They hire cars and employ solicitors...
I've used AMCs twice in the past and it certainly helps when the third party insurers are dawdling that you can ring them up and explain that every day they're wasting it's costing them over £200 in hire vehicle costs. Both times they authorised repairs the same day and managed to get the repair done much quicker than we were suggested it would take!
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff